Social Change and

Development Concepts
SW 213: Social Change and Development Perspectives

Ms. Diadem Rose Camba-Jontarciego, RSW, MSW, ThM

Department of Social Work, IDC
• Identity – refers to a specific social phenomenon undergoing
transformation, such as definite practice, behavior, attitude,
interaction pattern;
• Level – delineates the location in a social system where a
particular change takes place examples- group, organization,
institution, society;
• Duration - refers to the questions of how long a particular
change form after it has been accepted;
• Magnitude – may be based on a three part scheme of
incremental or marginal, comprehensive, and revolutionary
changes;
• Rate – may be based on any arbitrary scale such as fast or slow,
continuous or spasmodic, orderly or erratic. (Vago, 1996)
Social Change is the transformation of culture and social
institutions over time.
1. Social Change is universal although the rate of change
varies.
2. Social Change is both intentional and unplanned.
3. Social Change is often controversial.
4. Social Change has variable consequences.
(Macionis, 1991)
Causes of Social Change
1. Cultural Processes
2. Social Structure
3. Ideas
4. Natural Environment
5. Population
 DEVELOPMENT
✓ as a vision, description, or measure of the state being
of a desirable society

✓ as a historical process of social change in which

societies are transformed over long periods

✓ as a consisting of deliberate efforts aimed at

improvement on the part of various agencies, including
governments, all kinds of organizations and social
movements.
 DEVELOPMENT AS HISTORY AND PROCESS
Four issues surrounding the definition of
development (Sue Ellen Charlton)
1. The role of ethical and moral choice in development
2. The structure of the international system in the late
twentieth century
3. The influence and in some instances, domination of
western norms and institutions in development concepts
and policies
4. The political control of development
 Development as Freedom
• Amartya Sen conceptualized this concept and published a book. She argues
that development entails a set of linked freedoms:
• political freedoms and transparency in relations between people
• freedom of opportunity, including freedom to access credit; and
• economic protection from abject poverty, including through income
supplements and unemployment relief.
• Poverty is characterized by lack of at least one freedom (Sen uses the
term unfreedom for lack of freedom), including a de facto lack of political rights and
choice, vulnerability to coercive relations, and exclusion from economic choices
and protections.
• Based on these ethical considerations, Sen argues that: “development cannot
be reduced to simply increasing basic incomes, nor to rising
average per capita incomes. Rather, it requires a package of
overlapping mechanisms that progressively enable the exercise of
a growing range of freedoms.”
• A central idea of the book is that “freedom is both the end and a means
to development”
Amartya Sen: Development as freedom

• Main purpose of development is to spread freedom

and ‘thousand charms’ to the unfree citizens
• Freedom is at once the ultimate goal of social
arrangements and the most efficient means of
realizing general welfare.
• Social institutions like markets, political parties,
legislatures, the judiciary, and the like contribute to
development by enhancing individual freedom and are
in turn serve social values
• Values, institutions, development, and freedom are
closely linked
• According
to Seers (1979) the purpose of
development is to reduce poverty.
• On the other hand, for Sen (1999)
development involves reducing deprivation
and broadening choice. (economic
perspective)
Source: http://www.rrojasdatabank.info/widerconf/Nafziger.pdf
 Development

• It is the process that takes us from our current reality to a

vision of the future that benefits all of mankind.
• It characterizes a sustained capacity to achieve a better life
for all
• Means improving the quality of life in all aspects (social,
cultural, political, economic, ecological, etc). It includes
among others the delivery of basic services, securing
economic independence and autonomy, and participation in
decision making of the members of the society especially
those that directly affects them.
 Participatory Development
• “Participatory development seeks to give the poor a part in initiatives
and projects that are designed by outside organizations in the hopes
that these projects will be more sustainable and successful by
involving local stakeholders in the projects goals.”
• It is an increase in the sovereignty and wellbeing of the community.
As such, the community may determine that the predefined, written
goals of a project are no longer useful or valuable to the community.
• A genuine participatory development seeks to allow the poor to
determine their own visions and establish their own development
priorities and agendas.
• Source: https://www.thegrassrootscollective.org/what-is-participatory-development#
 Sociological Perspective on Development

• Puts people at the center of development,

regards economic growth as a means and not
an end, protects the life opportunities of future
generations as well as the present and
respects the natural systems on which all life
depends (Payne, 2005)
 Economic Development Perspective

• Economic development usually refers to the

adoption of new technologies, transition
from agriculture-based to industry-based
economy, and general improvement in living
standards. (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/economic-
development.html)
Differences of the Terms
 THEORY
• A general statement about the real world whose essential truth can
be supported by evidence obtained through the scientific method.

➢Must explain in a provable way why something happens. Ex:

Learning theory explains behavior on the basis of what organisms
have learned from the environment.

• Interrelated sets of concepts and propositions, organized into a

deductive system to explain relationships about certain aspects of
the world
 MODEL

• Is a blueprint for action. It describes what happens in practice in a

general way.

Ex: The behavioral model (based on learning theory) gives specific

guidelines 2 for how to effect change. If a parent complains that his
child is having difficulty staying in his own bed at night and the
parent has been allowing the child to sleep in his/her bed( thereby
reinforcing the child’s difficulty) the practitioner would help the
parent to extinguish the behavior by removing the reinforcement
 PRACTICE MODEL

• Guide for practitioner interaction that operationalizes theory;

includes concrete actions and techniques

(note: some theories have more well-developed practice models

than others)
 PERSPECTIVE

• A way of perceiving the world flows from a value position. Note:

The perspective will influence choice of theory and model.

• an emphasis or point of view; concepts at an earlier level of

development (e.g., a “strengths perspective”) or at a broader
and higher level of abstraction (ex: a “humanistic perspective”
or a “developmental perspective”)

Note: Payne (1997) argues that social work theory succeeds best
when it contains all three elements of perspective, theory and
model.
 PARADIGM

an archetype or mode of thought; a general way of seeing the

world (e.g., “modernism” or “post-modernism”)
 DIMENSION

a feature that can be focused on individually or separately, but

can only be understood in relation to other features (as in
“dimensions of human behavior” or a “multi-dimensional
approach” to human behavior)